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I despise Microsoft's cheesy tactics to force people to upgrade to newer operating systems. Especially vile is having to install "fixes" for service packs that open up further problems. I hope this fellow's solution extends the service life of 98 for the sake of the people who can't easily afford upgrading.

I despise Microsoft's tactics of requiring new hardware for their newer operating systems(not officially, I know, but for practicality purposes, it does). That said, other applications usually follow suit with trying to force people to upgrade. At my part time job, there's tax software that I expect will officially dump 98se support before next tax season. Once that happens, regardless of how flawlessly those workstations work, they're going to have to be completely replaced.

I switched vocations partly because of all the hoopla involved with this upgrade stuff. It used to excite me, but now it kind of irritates me. I don't know if it's because I'm older now or what exactly changed me, but I have a "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality about these things anymore. In summary, I understand why there's still people using 98se. Why buy something you already own to do something you can already do? Power to them.

I hear you, man. I got outed from my IT gig for "economic considerations" and I'm looking for some kind of work where I don't feel like a knife is poised at my back over issues I can't control. No matter how hard you work at it you're only as good as the developer's integrity, and how can you vouch for that? I helped my company get through the Y2K problems (sometimes 18-20 hour stints) and they decided I was disposable after getting everything upgraded. Since getting burned I'm extremely hesitant toward continuing in the IT field.

I despise Microsoft's tactics of requiring new hardware for their newer operating systems

I ran into much of the same a few years ago with RedHat Linux. Wanted to install it on an older '486 box I had sitting around (yah, I know all about performance issues with inadequate hardware) and it flat-out *refused* -- thereby making my first step on the road away from RedHat towards other distros.

I despise Microsoft's cheesy tactics to force people to upgrade to newer operating systems.

Get real. Nobody's forcing you to upgrade.

I despise Microsoft's tactics of requiring new hardware for their newer operating systems...

Operating systems do more work with each release -- and they exploit new hardware capabilities as they evolve (USB, AGP, FireWire, Bluetooth, WiFi, etc). And since Microsoft needs to actually pay for its research and development by marketing products, it's pretty damned unrealistic to expect that they're going to hamstring progress because you don't want to upgrade your hardware.